find us on:
Air Force One
Background:
“Theaters are always going to be around, and doing fine. With computers and
technology, we’re becoming more and more secluded from each other. And the movie
theater is one of the last places where we can still gather and experience
something together. I don’t think the desire for that magic will ever go away.”
Wolfgang Petersen
German-born director Wolfgang Petersen made a name for himself in Hollywood with
such box-office pictures as Shattered (1991, earned a Deauville Film Festival
nomination), the thriller Air Force One (1997, a Bambi Award), The Perfect Storm
(2000) and the recent release Poseidon (2006). The owner of Red Cliff Production
produced the film Red Corner (1997), The Agency (2001) and the short drama
Chicxulub (2006).
Formerly, Petersen was handed a German Film’s Award in Gold for the thriller
Einer von uns beiden (1974). Still with German movies, the director gained
international recognition after making Das Boot (1981), which was nominated for
two Oscars, a Directors Guild of America award and a BAFTA Film award, as well
as Die Unendliche Geschichte (1984).
On a more private note, he is the father of filmmaker Daniel Petersen from his
former marriage with Ursula Sieg (no longer together). Petersen is now married
to Maria Borgel-Petersen.
John Ford Fan
Childhood and Family:
On March 14, 1941, Wolfgang Petersen was born in Emden, Lower Saxony, Germany,
to an English father and a German mother. Little Wolfgang, who was passionate
about all things American, admired John Ford’s films because of their clear
presentation of good and evil. Beginning his career as an actor and director in
a Hamburg theater during the 1960s, the graduate of the Johanneum School
(1953-1960) finally attended the Film and Television Academy in Berlin
(1966–1970) before gaining fame as a screen director.
Wolfgang was first married to Ursula Sieg, with whom he has a son, filmmaker
Daniel Petersen. After the couple separated in 1978, he married Maria Borgel-Petersen,
whom he first met during the shooting of Smog (1973, TV).
Poseidon
Career:
After becoming the assistant director at the Ernst Deutsch Theater in Hamburg,
Wolfgang Petersen had his first stage-directing attempt in 1961. While studying
at a film school, Petersen created the short films Der Eine - der Andere (1967),
Die Rote Fahne (1968) and Ich nicht (1969, also wrote).
Petersen’s first feature-length project was Ich werde dich töten, Wolf (1971),
which was followed by the TV film Anna und Toto (1972) and the TV sci-fi
thriller Smog (1973). Also in 1973, he began directing several episodes of the
series “Tatort” (1973-1976), where he first worked with actor Jürgen Prochnow.
A year later, the new director turned heads with his work in the thriller Einer
von uns beiden (1974), which was Manfred Purzer’s adaptation of Horst Otto Oskar
Bosetzky’s novel. Before long, he was handed a German Film’s award in Gold for
Outstanding Individual Achievement (New Director). The thriller was then
re-released in 1979 and picked up by Lufthansa airlines, which showed it on
cross-Atlantic flights. The victory led to Petersen directing the miniseries
“Die Stadt im Tal” (1975), the TV adaptation of Ralph Maloney’s novel Vier gegen
die Bank (1976), the controversial drama Die Konsequenz (1977) and the chess
championship-set drama Schwarz und weiß wie Tage und Nächte (1978, TV).
Petersen eventually won international acclaim with his screen revival of Lothar
G. Buchheim’s novel, Das Boot (1981). The 12 million dollar war drama, which at
the time was the most expensive German film ever made, chronicled the journey of
a group of German U-Boats crew members in WWII. Soon, Das Boot was nominated for
two Oscars (one for Best Director, one for Best Screenplay), a Directors Guild
of America award and a BAFTA Film award. After shooting the partially
American-financed Die Unendliche Geschichte (1984, earned a Fantasporto’s
International Fantasy Film award nomination), the filmmaker created the epic
spin-off miniseries “Das Boot” (1985) for German TV.
Petersen, who in 1984 received a Bambi award, marked his American directing
debut with the sci-fi drama Enemy Mine (1985), starring Dennis Quaid and Louis
Gossett Jr. He then moved to California and made the self-produced mystery
thriller Shattered (1991), which brought him a nomination for the Critics award
from the Deauville Film Festival. He then released his self-produced dramatic
thriller In the Line of Fire (1993), featuring Clint Eastwood, as well as the
virus attack-themed Outbreak (1995), starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and
Morgan Freeman.
The executive producer of Jon Avnet’s Red Corner (1997) gained huge box-office
success with the summer thriller Air Force One (1997). Starring Harrison Ford,
the movie also reunited Petersen with German actor Jürgen Prochnow, who played
General Ivan Radek, and won the director a Bambi award for Direction. Petersen
then marched on with the natural disaster-themed The Perfect Storm (2000).
Following his producing effort in The Agency (2001, also the spin-off series,
2001), the director smashed the box-offices again with the colossal movie based
on Homer’s poem, Troy (2004). Recently, Petersen helmed the remake movie
Poseidon (2006), which centers on a passenger ship capsized by a tidal wave, and
served as the executive producer for the short drama Chicxulub (2006).
In 2008, Petersen is scheduled to release the sci-fi action film Ender’s Game,
penned by Orson Scott Card (story) and David Benioff (screenplay). The movie
will focus on a gifted child’s admission to a military school in space, in order
to prepare for a future invasion of alien.
Awards:
